"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"... what does this mean? For me, G-d is the ultimate good... the reconciler... peace. How can I fear the one who wants nothing more than to realize union with me... with each soul?
I know what it is to fear pain... humiliation... alienation... desertion... financial ruin... extinction (the holocaust)... aging... irrelevance... incompetence. I relate to each of these and more. I know what it is to feel awe... at lightning... great beauty... marrying my wife... watching my children be born... standing at the top of pike's peak...
But what does it mean to fear the ultimate good... the lover of our souls?
Here is the best summary I've found:
"fearing God," is living life with a trembling awareness that life has meaning -- that the choices you make have consequences of ultimate significance. To "fear" God as a Jew means to hone within yourself an awareness of the divine Presence around you all the time. One who fears God in this way would never say, "It does not matter how I behave in this circumstance because no one will ever know." http://judaism.about.com/od/beliefsandlaw1/f/feargod.htm
If to fear G-d means to have a constant awareness of G-ds presence with me and the significance of each action... then, the opposite of fearing G-d (apart from unbelief) is pride... a full disregard for accountability to the creator of the universe...
Perhaps this is why Proverbs 22:4 says: The reward of humility is the fear of HaShem, even riches, and honor, and life.
If I would know fear of G-d I must first recognized G-d's presence in all- Recognizing my smallness is a first step to recognizing her presence and my accountability for my every thought, word, and deed.
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